It Begins With You

The actor is the art form

It begins with you. You are the canvas, the paint and the brush, the inspiration that creates the work of art. You are the cello, the strings and the bow. You are the resonance and the notes.

The actor is the instrument—and as you fine-tune your instrument you access the ability to transform yourself.

I often hear that a person wants to try acting because they want to “be someone else.” They want to get out of the person they feel they are stuck in, as if caught in a cycle that goes round-and-round with no ability to change.

It is a risk to change our behavior, to break out of patterns we seem destined to stay in for the rest of our lives. We fear we will disappoint people close to us. And yes, we might. They may push back, intercept or derail our effort.

As actors we become our own work of art.

The truth is we do get relief from the person we are. Actors can try on someone else for a time, or so it seems…

But we don’t actually get out of ourselves, that would be impossible. Instead we indulge more deeply into aspects of who we already are. We discover parts of ourselves that were remote or hidden. Those gems become the resource for our characters.

What would it be like to transform into another part of you?

Our creativity is built in, it is the instrument of the actor, our heart and spirit, our emotions, our secrets and behaviors are openings to the creative self. Actors explore those inner characters to discover their notes, and colors, their scents and to bring them into form.

This is the joy and challenge of acting.

You don’t lose you… you don’t go anywhere… you take yourself into new chambers of who you already are. You practice and play your instrument.

Once you’ve given over to being an actor all eyes are awake. Your instrument is with you always working on creation.